At one point during the retreat, in a meeting with just the four Sodak kids, we all admitted to feeling just a little bit overwhelmed by the fast pace and large population of the retreat. Oh dear.

The retreat was lovely. The majority of the time was spent in lectures, listening to a Jesuit priest tell Cajun jokes and then a hailstorm of Catholic social justice teaching. I loved being able to see all the other Jesuit Volunteers. It was funny to be reminded that every other house is located in, you know, a city. With a downtown area and nearby super markets and all of that. The St. Francis house has a very unique experience. Leaving the reservation and speaking with other volunteers was probably just the space I needed to see what I could actually be doing out here and how to attack my position with enlivened vigor.

It was also awesome to just be around people my own age. I don’t get to do that very often. Our first night in San Antonio, we stayed with Casa Guadalupe and they took us out to a cowboy bar (had a mechanical bull. YUP). To be honest, I was almost a little overwhelmed. There were more people in that bar than in my entire town. Then, I was standing by the dance floor, thinking about getting another glass of scotch and realizing, there’s no point in getting hammered anymore. I did end up dancing (and at this bar, this means doing the two step in a circle around the dance floor, trying very hard not to run into other couples. Hilarious) with a nice fellow for a few songs right before I left, but I also knew that I would never see him again. It’s not like I can sustain being in a relationship at this point in my life anyways. Ugh, I hate when I’ve realized that I’ve matured. Don’t worry though, there were lots of opportunities for me to showcase my inner child at Re-Orientation. Like when a group of us went swimming, despite that it was about 40 degrees outside and the water was in no means warm. Then I went in again the next day, but with fewer people. But hey, I haven’t seen liquid water in at least a month. How could I resist?

All in all, it was a long, tiring, fabulous retreat. I already miss all the other JV’s. I also slept about 19 hours today because I was both sick and fighting caffeine withdrawals. But I should be ready and rockin’ to take on tomorrow.